EU will have to make Brexit concessions: Juncker admits UK will be 'privileged partner'

EU will have to make Brexit concessions: Juncker admits UK will be 'privileged partner'

EUROPEAN COMMISSION President Jean Claude Juncker has admitted that the EU will be forced to give Britain a special deal and make it a “privileged partner”. In a major retreat from the Commission’s hardline punishment agenda, Mr Juncker has conceded that national interests within the EU’s 27 members will mean they have to make concessions to Britain.

Mr Juncker made it clear that the EU will not be able to resist cherry picking by the UK

He said that the unity so far of the 27 will not hold because big businesses will lobby individual governments hard to protect trade with the world’s fifth biggest economy.

He made it clear that the EU will not be able to resist cherry picking by the UK in a sign that the British financial services industry will be able to thrive, despite claims by chief negotiator Michel Barnier that this cannot happen.

He said that he fears that “in the end we’ll have several extras, several exceptions that will make Europe a mess”.

He said that he wants Britain to be a “privileged partner” of the EU after it leaves.

However, the embittered EU leader could not help but take a swipe at Mrs May over delays in talks and a lack of a clear idea of what Britain wants.

The comments will be a blow to French President Emmanuel Macron who has been resisting giving British financial services complete access to the single market in the hope that jobs will transfer to Paris.

It also appears to make a mockery of claims from Remainer MPs in Westminster who have said Britain can only thrive if it stays under Brussels rule in the Single Market and Customs Union.

GETTY

Mr Juncker said he wants Britain to be a 'privileged partner' of the EU

Senior Tory MEP and Brexit campaigner David Campbell Bannerman, who sits on the European Parliament trade committee, said: "It was always the case that EU unity would evaporate when it came down to hard trade and economics member state interests.

"About 90 per cent of all EU trade comes down to just eight EU nations.

“This is a very positive development that makes a mutually agreeable deal far more likely."

He added: "Every trade deal ‘cherry picks’ it should be no surprise a EU-UK trade deal will too."